INSIDE THE 
HOUSE 
Timely Suggestions and 
Answers to Correspondents 
lllllllBIIIllllMIMIll 
The editor will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems of interior decoration and furnishing. When an immediate reply is desired, a self-addressed stamped 
envelope should be enclosed. This department will also purchase any of the articles here described for subscribers living at a distance, or will furnish the names of the places 
where they may be obtained. 
Adaptable Spare-Room Furniture 
I N many homes there is a sort of spare 
room which is used both as sewing 
room and as extra bed room. This, or¬ 
dinarily, means that its items of furniture 
are somewhat mixed and that they have 
chosen for utility rather than looks. It 
takes, however, but little ingenuity and 
work to convert such a combination of 
utility items into charming furniture and 
thereby create an attractive room. While 
the three items of furniture herein de¬ 
scribed are particularly adaptable to such 
a room they may, however, be variously 
used otherwise. 
The sewing machine, if it be of the 
drop-head kind, may be easily concealed 
when not in use and converted into a 
pretty bed-room dressing table. Take a 
board, about a half-inch thick, that will 
just cover the top of the machine, cover 
it with cloth and tack to its edges all 
around, except on one side, a cloth, laid 
in pleats, that when in place, will just 
reach to the floor. The machine is placed 
Everybody has use for a small table or work-box. 
This one was made quickly and simply at home 
against a wall and the undraped edge of 
the board is left at the back. The board 
may be either in one width or two, but 
if two are used it will be necessary to 
fasten them together by nailing a 
cleat on the under side of each 
end. The material used for cover¬ 
ing and draping should be of colors 
to harmonize with the finish of the 
room — preferably of flowered cretonne. 
Brass-headed art tacks will prove suitable 
for fastening the draping to the edges of 
the board. A small, inexpensive mirror, 
with a white enameled frame, will com¬ 
plete the arrangement, and the sewing 
machine will have become an attractive 
little dressing table. 
The room may also contain a trunk, 
presumably with a flat top. If so, it may 
be converted into a comfortable, attractive 
seat by covering it in a manner similar 
to that of the sewing machine. A board 
for covering the top may be used, although 
it is not absolutely necessary. The cover¬ 
ing and side and end drapes may be sewed 
together in one piece, so as to fit over the 
trunk neatly without the board. A small 
pillow, preferably covered with the same 
kind of material, will add the finishing 
touch to the seat. 
Some sort of small table is necessary, 
also. One that will prove an admirable 
feature whether the room is used as a 
sewing-room or as a bed-room can be con¬ 
structed at very little cost and requires but 
very little knowledge of the use of tools, 
since it is to be entirely covered with cloth, 
except for the legs. It serves the double 
purpose of being a work-box as well as 
table. For the legs take four pieces of 
wood, each twenty-seven inches long and 
one inch square. The legs will require 
crosspieces for bracing, and these, to make 
the table more attractive, should be near 
the floor—within about four inches. Three 
pieces, also one inch square — two fifteen 
inches long and one fourteen inches long 
— fastened together in the shape of the 
letter H, will serve for this purpose. The 
inside dimensions of the finished box 
should be ten inches deep, fourteen wide 
and sixteen long, and if the boards chosen 
for it are one-half inch thick the following 
pieces will be required : two sides ten inches 
wide and seventeen inches long, two ends 
ten inches wide and fourteen inches long, 
and one bottom eleven inches wide and 
seventeen long. The top should be one inch 
thick and about twenty inches square. The 
box is to be lined with some plain material 
of a color that will blend with the cover¬ 
ing material, and it will be much easier to 
fasten in this lining before either the top 
or bottom is put on. Pieces of similar 
material will be likewise tacked to the in¬ 
side sides of the top and bottom — that is, 
tacked only along the edges. After this is 
done the bottom may be nailed on, which 
will cover the tacks of the lower edge. 
Fasten the flowered cretonne only where 
it is turned over the edges, and use brass¬ 
headed art tacks for the purpose. The 
bottom side of the box, since it will not 
be seen, need not be covered, and the 
covering of the top, instead of being 
tacked to the edges, should be drawn un¬ 
derneath and fastened an inch or two 
from the edges. The covering material 
should have the edges folded un- 
The sewing-machine may be converted into an attrac¬ 
tive dressing-table, with a board top and some 
cretonne j 
230 
